Ever since Christopher and I had our little discussion about pooping in his underwear and he had his first poopy clean up, I have some good news to share. He has been pooping in the potty! I know about when he's going to go in the morning and yesterday I could tell he was "thinking" and so I asked him if he needed to go. He said nope, but I knew he just didn't want to admit it. I reminded him that if he goes in his pants HE has to clean it up. He immediately said, "I want to go poo poo on the potty Mommy!" Again, the same thing this morning. I'm so excited! Of course I don't want to get too excited and have it backfire, but I know that this is a huge step. I'm going to go ahead and admit it here in words for all to see... I, Brittny, have no problem with any kind of "trick" that may involve getting my child to do what needs to be done. I don't think you should always lie to your child (excludes Santa, Tooth Fairy, Easter Bunny, etc. - please, don't give me your opinions about those things, I'm not changing my mind.) but just fib a little sometimes to save your own sanity. Because, well, we all know that if we can't stay sane, our child just might disappear!

Christopher always seems to start out really well every time we attempt to potty train him. You are probably going, "every time? what does that mean?" Well, we are on our third time right now and this one is going to stick. I'm determined. The first time I think was just b/c it was a new idea, but we'd just had Sophie and about to move, so I knew it wouldn't stick and didn't go along with it.

The second time was several months ago and he initiated it. He was doing fabulous for weeks and then all of a sudden he wouldn't tell me when he had to go poo poo and started going in his underwear. At first I thought it was just accidents, but then I quickly realized he did know better, just didn't care. I started getting onto him and he'd get in trouble if he had any accidents that I know could have been prevented. This backfired in a HORRIBLE way. He started pooping all day long, meaning tons of washed underwear and then started peeing in his pants again. The last straw was one night when he pooped and I cleaned him up then when I came out of the bathroom he was peeing - on purpose - onto the carpet. He looked at me and laughed with an evil laugh and I wanted to tear up his cute little back end. Don't worry, I didn't. I think I must have blacked out b/c I didn't even put him in time out or anything, I honestly don't remember what I did other than yell, "THAT'S IT! YOU'RE GOING BACK TO DIAPERS!" He could have cared less.

Well, over Easter he decided to try going potty again. We thought this was going to be it b/c we waited until he decided everything on his own. (We thought he had done that before too.) Again, it started out great, then a few weeks into it he started pooping in his underwear again. I told myself to not yell at him or get mad at him b/c I knew where that got me last time. Until today. I knew I needed a new "trick", so I decided to just try talking to him about it (again). Here's how that conversation went...

Me: "Why do you go poop in your underwear?"

C: (in a silly voice) "It's my paaannnties!"

Me: "Does it feel good or yucky to go in your underwear?"

C: (still in silly voice) "It's my paaaaanties!!!! Poopy panty potty!"

Me: (realizing I'm not getting anywhere so just get to the point) "Do you poop in your panties b/c you know Mommy will clean it up?"

C: "YUP!!!"

Me: "Well, not anymore. If you want that cleaned up you'll have to do it yourself."

C: "But I don't know how?"

Me: "Well, you'll have to figure it out."

For the next 10-15 minutes he walked around with dirty pants and every now and then he'd say, "You need to change me, Mommy," or "But I don't know how to clean it." to which I kept replying, "You'll just have to figure it out b/c Mommy doesn't clean poopy underwear anymore." All of a sudden I hear him yelling with excitement from the bathroom, "I DID IT!!!" I ran in there expecting a huge mess and he had done it without anything to wipe but his cute hiney. He had even pulled out a couple wipes to use. So, it worked once. We'll just see if it works again. I sure hope so!!

Here's the final product of our project we did a few weekends ago. I told you we had to lift up one side b/c it was crooked and Brandon went to get more stones b/c 2 wasn't enough. I know they aren't pretty, but the entire project only cost us $10 and that was for the dirt. Everything else was free, wood, mulch, 4 plants you can barely see (why they were free) and the stones. So, you won't see this in any home magazine, but if you could see our yard it is a HUGE improvement. You can kind of see it, yup, that's sandy dirt. Pretty isn't it?

I thought this was funny and just had to get a photo for you all to see. This is the label on the back of a bottle of bubbles we got the other day. Can you see what it says on the second line? Yup, apparently bubbles are very complicated liquids so only "competent adults" are capable of using them. I wonder if they arrest you for letting your 3 year old be in charge of blowing them?

Ok, here are the sad photos I have to prove we went on vacation without kids. We stopped to see a street show at Epcot and Brandon got pulled in. I have video, but wasn't going to put that on here. It was a pretty funny show though!

Here we are waiting for the light show at Magic Kingdom. We were getting bored and I realized we hadn't taken any photos yet, so here's the first. Reminds you on when you are on your honeymoon and you have pics of your new spouse sitting at a table alone with a big grin on his/her face while waiting for your meal.

Here's some fireworks. Oooooooooooohhhhhhhh!!!!!!! Aaaaaahhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!

Here we are at Universal waiting for a show. I needed a break from flipping around on rides and this helped tremendously! Wasn't the most interesting thing we've seen before, but I felt better after sitting still for 40 minutes.

As we were pulling away from the house Christopher yelled at us, "I want a blue articulating dump truck!!!!" I died out laughing b/c I didn't know Brandon had asked him if he wanted us to bring him something back with us. It was still cute! This was as close as I could find to one and couldn't believe I found it! Not a dump truck, but he still loves it and carries it with him wherever we go.

He's been asking for a pair of flip flops like mommy and daddy's so I got him a pair of those too. He loves them so much he even took a nap in them the next day. I knew he was awake b/c I heard him flip-flopping down the hall.

I've been away from here for a week or so b/c Brandon and I went away together, no kids, to Orlando to celebrate our 5th anniversary early. My parents came down on Tuesday and kept the kids for us and we were really looking forward to 3 nights away together. We left Wednesday morning and a friend of ours let us take his convertible BMW, which was so fun to ride in! Except the radio quit working the day before we left. Which was fine, but my man loves his music so I knew it was going to be a long ride for us. (Don't worry, we love talking to each other, but we talk a lot, so we didn't have that much to catch up on and 6 hours is a long time.) That night we decided to head to Epcot to see the laser show. It was fabulous! Our kids are worthless by evening at Disney, so we never get to see the light shows. The next day we had our little "time share" meeting to go to and were kind of dreading it, but kept telling ourselves we had a free place to stay and free tickets to Universal b/c we agreed to it, so we went with the best attitude we could. It actually was a lot of fun and pretty interesting until we got to the money part. Then it got annoying. After finally convincing the man that we don't make big decisions like that in 2 hours, (we spend more time than that deciding on how to spend $50) we got our tickets and headed back to Disney (we have season passes) and walked around Epcot, rode a few rides and had a nice lunch together before heading to Magic Kingdom for it's night show. The next morning we grabbed breakfast at Dunkin Donuts and rushed over to Universal to start our two-park, one-day hopper. Let's just say DD probably wasn't the best way to start a day of roller coaster riding. Nobody got sick, but walking as fast as you can to get on a roller coaster that flips you like crazy after having donuts and a coke doesn't leave you feeling like you want to do it again. But we did. For several more hours. It was lots of fun and thankfully Brandon didn't mind taking a break to let me recover before going again. We hit both parks, picked up UNO's deep dish pizza (oh, so yummy!!!) on the way home and crashed on the couch until we crawled to bed to pass out. The next day we couldn't wait to get home and were so glad to see the kids again. They had a great time with Grammie and Pop and we couldn't thank them enough for allowing us to do this. I didn't take too many photos, but I'll post them soon. There are some great ones of Brandon getting pulled into a street show at Epcot! It was hilarious!!!

Hey Mandi! This is for you (and anyone else who is wondering), the John Deere sign was found by my parents when they were driving home from our house one day. There are tons of little houses/barns/places on the side of the road that sell old signs. You'll see them propped up against the outside walls. This one was a new sign. I've been wanting to stop at them for a while, but the kids are always asleep when we get to that point. Just go through Andalusia on your way to the beach the next time you come down and you'll find them.

I'm finally getting the photos on here I've been wanting to show you all. Again, computer problems. I got a nap today so I have the energy to do it tonight and using it. The first few photos are in backwards order, but the last ones about the yard are from today. It was a wonderful day at our house! We worked/played in the yard and the kids ate dinner (Christopher actually sat at the table with us too and not the counter!) with no complaints, which is a first in I have no idea how long. I think God knew I needed that! (Sorry for all the times I complained about what you fixed, Mom!!!) So, on to photos...


Here are two tops I "made" for Sophie. Yes, they are iron-ons, but aren't they cute? I found them at A.C. Moore and just had to get them. Found the tops at Target and I fell in love! Christopher wants a blue "pancake" as he calls them, but I got him a little stick boy with a fishing pole. It was a disaster and melted all over the place, so I'll be returning it. I had to show these b/c everyone has been showing these really cute things that they have sewn. Well, I don't sew. I never learned and probably never will. Not that I have anything against it, but my mom does and she has way more time to do it than I do. (No offense mom!) She LOVES doing it, is very fast and has an incredible spot to do it. I have absolutely no place in our home to put a sewing machine. Yeah, I know some of you don't either, but you just pull it out when you need it. I'd never do that. It'd stay in the closet.

Sophie trying to close the dishwasher. She loves to close things and put stuff away. She apparently knows when we are finished with stuff. We don't. I took this b/c she had found her hat and put it on by herself. She did this everytime she would find it around the house and I thought it was really cute! She gets everyone's shoes and finds her hat when we go outside. She also loves to put on sunscreen and bug spray saying, "uh! uh! uh!" (she says this all the time b/c it's easier than learning to talk) until we are finished.

Notice Sophie's bracelet? Take a closer look. Can you tell what it is? I might as well tell you, nobody will get it. It the track from Christopher's excavator. Yup! You might be a redneck if... Jeff, add that one to your list.

The kids enjoying a homemade popsicle after their naps one afternoon. They were super excited about this b/c I don't usually give them sweets unless it's a holiday or they went potty. (No, I'm not a mean "no candy" mom, just don't care to deal with the crying b/c they want more or the sugar rush they get from it.) Don't feel too bad, it's water and the syrup my husband bought to make them with. It's sugar free, but I think they taste like bad flavored water. We'll use fruit juice next time.

Christopher stopping to dig for a minute. Notice how he stuck his popsicle in the ground with it sticking up so it won't get dirty. He's not dumb! Sophie's trying to figure out why he'd put it down in the first place.

The kids watching our neighbor cut his yard. (I'd say grass, but let's be honest, everyone here on base just has weeds. Unless you spend lots of money and work really hard, which not many are up for that fight. He actually has more grass than we do though.) Notice the kids are under the trampolene? Yup. They thought this would be a good spot to watch from.

Sophie making her funny face to show me that she's done with something she just consumed. She first started doing this with a Capri Sun and I guess now it's being done with popsicles. Do you see how dirty she is? This is why I took their shirts off. We not only have sand for a backyard, but it's that dirty sand that is super fine and like dust, but you have to scrub it off with soap, water and a rag. Reason #1 why I don't like living in FL - the kids need 2 baths a day.

Don't you love Sophie's dress? I got it at Wal-Mart for $5 and think it's worth every little penny. She sooooo didn't want me taking her photo. I literally chased her around the house and this was the face I finally got on "film." I adore her!

Ok, here's the project that I wanted to get done today. Pretty scary huh? I left the rusty grill canister there for added effect. See how gross the yard is? (Remember we live on base, not in a sketchy neighborhood. It just looks like it with the chain fence.) We could plant grass seed, which we plan to do, but our yard floods so bad that it won't do a whole lot of good. How do we always end up living in a home where the backyard floods? The patio drops off pretty far and Sophie tripped the other day almost hitting her forehead on the edge. I'd been planning on adding some "trim" and plants to extend this and try to make the yard look nicer, but wasn't motivated until I heard about her fall. So, I went to Self Help (place for those families who live on base and can purchase things for their home for "free" - with a quarterly allowance) They actually had some plants in stock, so I went back today and snagged some of those. Unfortunately I don't have a good photo of the final project (b/c there is so much stuff all over that it really does look like a trailor park!) so I'm going to wait and post it later. We also realized that it slopes to the right and will try to fix it. I'm going to leave you with this:

Can you tell I'm in the mood for flowers?I found this cute background site and just couldn't resist changing it up again. I'm working on a project in the backyard and I'm hoping and praying that it will be completed this weekend and will go smoothly. Brandon doesn't want to do it, but I do need someone to use the saw b/c #1- it's not mine and #2- it's been years since I've used one and would rather someone else did it in case it broke or something worse happened. Things have a way of messing up when I use them, and I'm not even doing something wrong, it's just time for it to break. All I need done is four simple cuts into the wood that I got, but I'm better at distracting the kids than anyone else is so I'll just stick with it. I'll take photos and show them later... when it gets done! Happy gardening!!!

Here are the photos from our trip to the lake the week of Easter. The kids and I had a fabulous time and it was exactly what we needed.

The first morning we had bunny pancakes with chocolate chips for the eyes. The kids were absolutely wonderful this day! Soooooo happy to be away from a rainy home.

Riding the plasma car around the kitchen and chasing each other. This is the grandkids favorite thing to do! (Ok, the grownups too!)

Christopher always loves to feed the dogs when we are there and this time Sophie wanted to help. Huge surprise b/c she's always been so scared of dogs.

She carried her own cup of food, but wanted to drop them in the bowl one piece at a time. Grammie had to get her to dump the whole cup b/c it would have taken forever her way!

While Sophie napped, Christopher and I dyed easter eggs. He didn't understand the clear wax crayon and so I had to decorate them so he could dye them. He loved it!

Pop made a step stool wide enough for them to stand on together (I'm working on painting it now, will show final result later on, when I finish it!). They had more fun standing on it at the sink and playing in the water and helping Grammie with dinner!

Grammie made Rice Krispie treats and used a cookie cutter to cut out bunnies. I used the chocolate chips and m&m's to decorate the faces. I think we would have eaten the whole bunch that night if we hadn't walked away from them!

The kids are really into fishing these days. Christopher has two fishing poles and Sophie plays with the bathtub ones.

She had to put it on her tray when she ate too! When the girl finds something she likes, there's no taking it away from her!

The patio was covered in pollen and Grammie started to clean it and it took about 30 seconds for the kids to decide to help. They love to help clean and I try to use it to my advantage when I can.

Sophie (again, not wanting to let go) had to even help rinse the rag herself. It's really cute, I just hope it stays cute.

Christopher wanted to fish with Pop every chance he got. He can cast a line really far too! It's crazy! Thankfully he doesn't care that there isn't a fish on the other end.

Sophie enjoying her swing while the boys are fishing. She loves swinging and always wants Christopher to join her. Pretty funny!

Sophie and her best buddy having a snack at the counter together. She adores Pop and it's so cute b/c she is the only granddaughter, for a few more months at least!

Taking a break to read some books. She likes to do this on her own. I take too long and apparently have the book in the wrong direction too!